This Time for Good
by MsMaroon
Summary: Once upon a time they knew each other and were the best of friends, but always longed for more.  Fate has brought them together once more, but will they write a different story this time? Will they give in to what they've always wanted from one another?
1. Just Another Day at the Office

I didn't write Twilight. I think y'all know this already. I do hope you enjoy this though.

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"Just Another Day at the Office"

"It will be a breezy, overcast 76 degrees today in D.C. Expect it to get cloudy with a seventy percent chance of rain later on tonight and the low to drop to the mid sixties...

And now, moving on from weather in to other news… From Congress… Today's bill from the House on gun control will hit the Senate floor. Talk about the bill has already been met with speculation from both sides of Congress. Also, last night Speaker of the House Susan Cope spoke of her mixed feelings on President Banner's recent points ..."

Emmett effectively silenced the radio in the car by reaching up and hitting the power button right after mention of the President began, "Don't listen to that kind of stuff. You don't want it to make a difference."

"Yeah, I know. I honestly just turned it over to check for traffic reports," Edward told him, almost more to convince himself than his friend and co-worker. "Besides…it's not like I thought I had to give up knowing what was going on in the world at all times when I signed up for this."

Emmett, ever the laid back and quiet man that he was, simply responded with reason, "You know what you're supposed to know. You know that. Everything that we need to know we read about at work. Well, at least the political 'goings-on.' Everything else is fine though."

Jasper poked his head between the front passenger seats as he said, "Yeah, Rookie. Besides Santa Claus will know if you've been catching up on the news while off duty." He sang, "He knows when you've sleeping, he knows if you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake," to further prove his point.

"So, that's how he got his code name?" Edward asked. He'd always wondered why someone would pick that code name for himself; he had always thought it was kind of odd. Now, it made complete and perfect sense. It also seemed a bit scary, but Edward chose to not dwell on that due to the fact that he wanted to make a point, "And besides, I've been on the force up here for eight months now, plus my first two years back home. I hardly think that I'm still qualified as a rookie."

"Well yeah, you still kind of are, but no worries. You're almost there…Rookie. Oh, and he's also called Santa Claus because he gives his Mrs. 'visions of sugarplums' if you get my drift…" Jasper said as he sat back with a cocky swagger and rested his arms against the headrest in the backseat.

Edward and Emmett shook their heads as they grimaced but it was Edward who actually responded, "You're such a dick sometimes, Jasper."

Emmett nodded his head in affirmation and then went back to staring out the window; probably imagining the cupcakes he wanted to eat from The Veranda Bakery.

"Well, I had to be. When your mom names you 'Jasper' you're going to be subject to bullying or being the bully. Guess which one I chose?" He winked into the rearview mirror to add flourish to his question.

"It's not like Jasper is a bad name," Edward said back to him.

"It is in Texas," even the way he said "Texas" was twanged in southern drawl, "but I mean, you should know, Eddie Boy. It's not like you had much of a choice with a name like 'Edward.' I mean, you were either destined to be one of three things," he ticked off his fingers as he named each point, "You were either going to be a huge dork, a politician, or cool ass motherfucker with a badass job." He waved his hand at Edward as he drove, "I see you picked the right choice."

"Your logical thinking sometimes astounds me, Jas," Edward responded as he pulled up to the security check-in for their assigned parking garage. All three men showed their IDs to the guard.

Emmett laughed and agreed, "You're not the only one."

Jas faked a hurt look, but then produced his signature sideways smirk. He knew he was somewhat of an asshole, but it was just something that he couldn't care to change.

Once they entered the entryway to the elevator all their demeanors changed.

Before they could afford to just be 'guys goofing off.' but now they were at work. Now they had a job to do. Now was not the time to let interference of any kind into the work place. Especially when that work place was 'The Single Greatest Home Court Advantage in the World.'

Emmett swiped his identification card, and the elevator started moving automatically. They were all quiet as they rode up four flights to Level 1. When they stepped off the elevator they walked into the small rotunda and proceeded through the first of two fingerprint identification security checkpoints. Once finished with that they made their way down the main hall and then through another security checkpoint that scanned each of their palm prints and vein patterns, before continuing on to their desks. There, they stowed their personal belongings, looked over and memorized the day's schedule, put in their earpieces, checked in with the rest of their team, and lastly, checked and armed their weapons. The whole process took about a half hour.

Once every one had checked out with other men in their team they took the elevator up again to the Ground Level, entered the back hallway, and then headed to their checkpoints of The Residence and relieved the last posted team.

He was on the move about 30 minutes past Edward's team's arrival, and when the signal, "50 Stars is on the move," came through in his ear from Emmett it was 'go time.'

As 50 Stars made his way into Edward's area he greeted him with a "Good Morning, Edward," and he responded in kind, "Good Morning Sir," with a slight nod of the head. For the whole two minutes that he was in Edward's station, Edward's eyes were on the move. They roamed, scanned, and made sure that everything looked as it was supposed to, even though they were in a secured hallway. Once he passed through the area, Edward went back and took his place against the wall so that he could look down the hall or across to view outside the large windows that opened up to a plush green yard.

As soon as it was confirmed that 50 Stars was stationed at desk job the team proceeded ahead with their orders and observed. They watched for anything and everything out of the ordinary, all the while standing in a stately, silent splendor.

So began another normal workday for Edward, at his job, at a big white house.

~~~TTfG~~~

She was running late, and she hated to run late, but if they had wanted her here early they should have told her as much yesterday. Now she would be ten minutes late, which meant that she wouldn't have any time to get herself a cup of coffee from the break room. That was what upset her more than anything else. At this early hour, Bella needed her damn coffee. The day would just not start out right without it.

It was then that Bella made a mental note to buy another travel mug, since the last one -God rest its soul - had met its demise.

As soon as she had one foot placed on the second floor of the Library of Congress, she was met with a frantic Angela. "I needed you here like fifteen minutes ago."

"Well, then you should have called me, and woken me up fifteen minutes earlier, or better yet told me to be here early yesterday. I love helping you out, you know this Angela, but I'm not a mind reader."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I really appreciate you helping us out this week since Mike is on his honeymoon," Angela said as she placed a hand on Bella's shoulder. "Really, I appreciate it. To be honest I wouldn't want anyone from any other department to come in here and help. They would just screw it up, and that would piss off a lot of members of Congress. I can't have that over my head."

"I know. That would suck. You'd be out of a job, and then who would I pick on at work?" Bella joked so as to lighten the sudden, even more frantic mood of Angela.

It worked because she laughed and jested back with a "Har har."

They'd reached Bella's desk by that point and she had started to stow away her belongings. "Do I have time to get a cup of coffee before we head downstairs?"

"Yes, because, frankly, I need one too! I'll brief you on the way down," Angela said. She didn't really look like she needed any coffee, but sometimes you just never can tell. That didn't stop Bella from silently praying that Angela would get a cup of decaf, though.

As they made their way to procure their cup of joe, Angela talked, "So, The House is introducing a new crime bill on the floor today. Its main goal is to enforce and garner tougher gun control laws. It basically calls for heavier restrictions on getting a license to carry them, and also looks to modify the current regulations of obtaining and using. So, today we'll be pulling and setting aside all past gun control and crime bill acts. We've already had four staffers come into to check out books, because they apparently can't wait for the mail service like normal people, and with it just being me down there for right now, I can't both pull and check them out."

"So, do you want to do one, and I'll do the other?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great! Which one do you want?" Angela asked Bella, even though she already knew the answer to the question.

"Something tells me that you already know."

Angela made a show of winking and shrugging her shoulders, "Maybe, maybe not."

They both chuckled before Bella told her friend, "Okay, so, I'll go get started in the back, and you go help that young, hot staffer that's checking out your ass," she started to walk away but not before saying, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Ang."

Bella made her way to one of many employee-only sections of the LOC and started searching for what she would need to pull.

She loved this part of her job – being amongst the old words that formed our nation and society. She got a kick out of looking up and reading over the words that directly influenced our world today. Sure Bella had an idealized point of view about her job, but she liked that point of view just fine – thank you very much. It was why when she graduated and finished her internship here at the Library of Congress that she applied for a full time job. She loved being a Rare Books Expert, and couldn't even bother to be put out on the days when she volunteered to help out the Congressional Research Service on days they needed extra 'man power,' because even then she still got do what she enjoyed doing.

Soon after she finished her cup of coffee she went to work, and by lunchtime it was just like any other day on Capitol Hill for Bella.

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A/N: Well, that's chapter 1.

First of all I have to sincerely thank the lovely Mrs. Boudreaux for all of her help that she has been giving me. You are the Ouiser to my Clairee, and I love you more'n my luggage. I only hope that someday we can get together and throw baseballs at Janice VanMeeter's head. It would be "fabulous".

I also have to thank Fic Mom and beta extraordinaire Marvar. She schools me in the ways of grammar better than any of my English teachers have previously done. You are the Ruth to my Kristen, and I love your Rob Porn. Keep it comin', and I've got a bunch of singles for next time...

Polyvores:

Edward: http:/www(dot)polyvore(dot)com/this_time_for_good_chapter/set?id=23417481

Bella: http:/www(dot)polyvore(dot)com/this_time_for_good_chapter/set?id=23417810

More information (if your interested) is on my profile page. It's some pretty cool stuff, if I do say so myself.

It would be just lovely of you if you would be so kind as to leave me a review and let me know what you think. Sharing is caring.


	2. How We Operate

We all know I didn't write Twilight. If I had I would own more books, have all the music my heart desires, and have a new car by now. Dolla, dolla bill y'all.

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'How We Operate'

It had been raining for the past three days in D.C. A battering storm had just hit the North Carolina shore on Monday and now was slowly making its way north, sloshing everything with rain in its way.

Edward couldn't help but look out the window and how it reminded of being back home in Washington as he, Emmett, Jasper, and the other three men on his team waited for the others to join them in the room.

Usually, Edward tried not to think of home that much. It simply hurt his heart to do so. All those failed attempts at opening himself up to something more than just friendship with the one person that had ever really known him always plagued him when he did think back to that time. He would feel a constriction in his chest and throat that felt more like an ache.

Here he was, a newly-turned 28 year-old man, and he was still bothered by the fact that he'd given up virtually everything that he had always wanted and hoped to have someday even though he subsequently went out and grabbed a hold of the plans that he had made for himself. He now had his dream job, sure, but his life outside of those walls felt empty and undefined; it was as if it was a blur of time, color, and plot.

He supposed he could always email her father tonight to find out what had been going on in that tiny little town where he got his start. Of course the Chief would know his true intentions and would give him all the knowledge Edward sought out. He would tell him the local gossip from Forks and the Reservation – just as a side note – and then he would add how his daughter was getting along in her life and what she was up to.

The Chief had always been his ace in the hole for information about her now. His best friend. The only girl he had ever really loved.

Sure they had kept in touch after high school and all throughout college, even though a whole country had separated them. It was Edward's time as a constantly moving Army Ranger that albeit solidified an end to that. It was just too hard to promise to call from the South Korean border when you weren't even sure if you could get reception or not, and back then high speed internet wasn't everywhere that it is today so that ruled out email.

Of course over time technology became more widespread. When Edward returned home for the holidays, just after his time as a Ranger was over, he had discovered that the Chief had even acquired a new computer, and an email address to go along with it. Turns out that the Chief had grown accustomed to the ones that the police department had, and broke down and decided that he needed one of his own.

It was nice to communicate with him again. He had missed him, too. The Chief had always been a sort of father figure in his life, especially since his had passed when he was just a kid. Chief Charlie Swan was why Edward fell in love with the idea of being in law enforcement in the first place. The two would carry on and joke in their emails about Edward coming to volunteer as a small, runty teenager and the Chief always made sure to call Edward by his old dispatch nickname of 'Bronze Medal' just because he could.

Chief Swan never gave Edward his daughter's email address. They knew the truth. They both knew he had loved her. They both knew that sometimes things just didn't work out the way you wanted them to. They both felt the loss of losing someone so dear to you, and they both knew that sometimes things are just better left alone. It was easier to deal with the pain then, and that was the reason Edward never asked for her email address either.

He had started a new life here in D.C. and it was one that he wanted to be a part of, even if he never really was living it. There just wasn't a point to all that, _without_ _her_.

Emmett cleared his throat to garner Edward's attention, and then they both looked up as the director of the Service, Carlisle Cullen– code name, Santa Claus – walked into the room with his usual manner of respected authority.

By nature, he was a jovial guy. In fact, it had even surprised Edward with how laid back he was at work. When he had moved here, he expected everyone, including the director, to be strict and regimented. It had come as a shock at first, but he quickly realized that the director was very much on top of things, knew everything, and did everything that he was supposed to.

He had called for a meeting between these five teams earlier in the day, and every pair of those eyes that outfitted those teams watched as he sauntered over to the head of the table, laid down his file and dropped his pen on it. With an air of his usual joviality he started the meeting off with, "Well guys, I've called you in here today because you are my five best groups. You work well together, are organized, and can rise to the challenge," he stopped to look around at all of them. The mood changed at once when the look on Carlisle's face did. Gone was the easy decorum, only to be replaced by a serious tone and tenor to his movements. "Are each one of you up for the challenge?"

Every man seated around the long oval table responded with either a head nod or a "Yes, Sir," and they had not even gotten any specifics on what there was to be yet. Such is the life of an agent. These men that bordered Edward's left and right had all been trained just like him. Many of them could also add a criminal justice degree to their collection, which only added to their already stout list of military experience, years of living the life of a police officer, and also their previous first two years of required in-state Service work.

They had all done their time, and checked every box that was required of them along the way – otherwise they wouldn't be here. The only differences between them were what branch of the military and various jobs within that they had done, or why they eventually made their way to the Service.

It was Jasper that found respite here. He had filled his time before hand cranking out orders and seeing things that haunted men along the way. Army Special Black-Ops had not been kind to him, and when he had been almost fatally wounded he took that as a sign that it was time to move on. When his commanding officer had inquired about his reenlistment he had given him a firm no, but had not left without an admirable recommendation that followed him all the way back to Dallas PD. He found solace in being on the SWAT team, but after an encounter that hit a little too close to things from his past he was urged to join the K9 unit by the force's psychologist. That ended up being the best therapy for him. But being as ever experienced as he was he decided that he wanted something a bit more than the normal, and with that he and his trusty pal of a German Shepard named Jake joined the Service. It ended up being a perfect fit for both.

Sure, Jasper was a jackass. He acted and walked a tough game and was stubborn to boot, but there were times when Edward would see that old shell of what he was slip out. He could see the hurt. Everyone could. So he just chose to give him the benefit of the doubt and accept him for who he was.

His other partner Emmett mirrored that same pain, but dealt with it better. He had been a sniper in the Marines Special Forces division, and Edward would guess that he had seen as many bad things as Jasper had. But where Jasper held it in, Emmett let it pass. Ever the wise one about his emotions, he knew what to hold on to and what to let go. Yes, he was quiet and gave off a presence of calm authority, but one would only wonder if he had always been that way. He would joke around once he got to know you, but it was Emmett's sage advice and steel leadership that won him the respect of Edward and everyone else upon first encounter. It was what had even helped land him the job. He was so used to being put in pressure situations that the regular duties of police work all but bored him. That's why the Service fit him so well. Here he could make use of his training and mentality but still live the everyday type of life. Emmett had even become Edward's best friend in D.C. and helped to lead him through the rigmarole of being the "new kid" in the neighborhood.

So yes, they were all brave men. It was who they were. It was what they had always been, whether or not years in the military and being a police officer had ever added to that. It was with that bravery that they all blindly accepted new challenges, such as the one being put forth in front of them now.

Carlisle was quick to respond to all of their acquiescence by giving a firm nod and saying, "Good. I knew I could count on you all…now let's get down to business." With that he pulled out a chair, unbuttoned his jacket to sit, opened his folder, and then spent the next three hours briefing them on Operation Chinese Zodiac.

~~~TTfG~~~

It had been a busy time on the Hill for Bella. Ever since she had helped out Angela for those couple of days at the beginning of the week, she needed to come back to her office and make up for everything that she had missed.

There was tagging, the logging in of information, and the research deemed necessary for each new piece that came in. Even if it was only two new things, it still took up the majority of her time at work and for this she felt sad. It was time to start getting ready for the National Book Festival and she very much wanted to be a part of it. The ground work for it had all been laid out by the upper crust that worked at the Library of Congress, but now was the time when the planning stages moved in to the doing stages.

Authors were to be chosen and invited, books were to be ordered, games were to be made, and a time-line for the day was to be set in stone. Bella couldn't wait to be a part of it. The Book Festival was a big deal to LOC, to the city, and especially to her.

Two years ago had been Bella's first foray into the whirlwind that is the BookFest. It was a busy day filled with games for kids, authors speaking, and of course finding new books to read. That first year she had not even considered it work because she was flying too high on the joy of the day. The next year she was hit with more duties, and even though it was like work that time around it was still a joy to be a part of the whole process. She had hoped that she could do the same this year, but by the time that the end of the week had rolled around and she hadn't heard anything she began to get a bit discouraged.

Bella threw herself into her work to keep occupied and hold the disappointment at bay, and she was so focused on the task at hand that she was startled when there was a knock on the open door.

"Bella, may I come in?" It was Irina, her boss and also, subsequently, one of the planning managers of the Book Festival.

"Sure." With that Bella put down her pen, took off her reading glasses, gave Irina her full attention, and tried to not to smile too much.

"You probably know that it's time to start seriously planning and taking care of this year's BookFest?"

Bella pleasantly nodded.

"Good. Well, you've done such a good job for us the past two years…you really made yourself available to the project…I was wondering if you would be interested in helping in a bigger capacity this year? You'd be helping me directly, and would be given some leadership roles in overseeing some aspects of the Festival this year."

"Irina…wow," Bella was a bit speechless over this. She was happy to be asked, but she still wasn't expecting to be able to do more, "Yes! I'd love too," she said with hardly a second thought. Of course, she didn't really need too. Her heart was already in helping out and taking part, but this...this was exceptional.

Bella felt as if she'd been given a job promotion even if she hadn't, but her heart didn't really believe that.

"Great! Well, this year it's fallen to me to organize the authors who will be joining us so I'd like your help with that. If that's alright with you?" Irina was a bit direct, but still nice enough about it to make it seem like Bella had a choice in the matter.

"Sure. Whatever it is that you want me to do, I'll do." She was not passing this chance up, even if she knew her pushy boss was going to be a bit passive aggressive about picky details the whole time while they were planning this out.

"Alright, well…let's see…you're from Washington state right?"

"Yes."

"Good. I was going to put you in charge of coordinating the Northwest area since I figured that you would be more familiar with local writers from the area. You'll need to find an author, book them, help make arrangements for travel and hospitality, and work them into the line-up for speaking and scheduling."

"Okay," Bella said as she dutifully wrote down all points that her boss made.

"Oh, and also…you'll have about a week to get this done for the Northwest region before moving on to the next. Now you, I, and two other people are all doing this so we'll need to expedite this process as fast as possible so that we'll all be ready come mid-August," Irina gave her look that seemingly asked Bella if she could not only get this done but if she could also handle it all in the time frame.

Bella nodded and added a nice but firm, "Sure. Okay."

"Alright. Good! So, let's get started tomorrow morning. Come by my office around nine o'clock tomorrow morning and we'll all start laying out some concrete details. Hopefully that will give us the weekend to brainstorm some more and come up with some things that we can use and start working on, come Monday."

The two then said their farewells, and when Irina left, Bella squealed a little bit and gave herself a silly one-person high-five. After she called to tell both Rosalie and Angela the good news, she went right back to work. Twenty minutes later she had finished, procured her third cup of coffee for the day, and then set about making a list of all of the authors that she knew of from the Northwest. She included fiction, non-fiction, young adult, and children's authors, and then added to her list an arrangement of ideas that each could have at their table besides just their books. It gave her a great sense of accomplishment to write this all down and especially so when she wrote the words 'Operation Book State Fair' as the title on her paper.

Bella just knew that she was up for this task, and it felt important to her to prove it to Irina. She wanted to show her boss that she earned the right to do this job in the first place. It would take organization, patience, grace, and maybe even a little bravery to get it all done in time.

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A/N:

As ever, credit to my non-existent over use of commas on the upload goes to my lovely Fic Mom and beta Marvar. She makes me look smarter than I am with this whole writing business. I totes love her, her attitude, and her love for Harry. Find her on twitter marvar29.

Massive props go out Ms. Ouiser. This fic, honestly, wouldn't be possible with out her. If I could I would pay her smiles and so many "thank you"s. Oh wait... I do that already. Okay, if I could I would pay her with money, but I don't have a job so... I'm just really glad that she likes smiles and "thank you"s. Find her on twitter ouiserb.

My Care Blair is sharing and caring, and offering to be the soap opera voice over for this fic. So if you're an auditory learner you might want to give her a call. She can be found on twitter buhbeesgirl and in my google chat line-up sharing pictures of Jackson with me, because... like I said... she's sharing and caring like that. She's also recently met my fellow friend Harry Potter, and all I can say is "I told you so."

A super special thanks go out to my great bud Scott. I love you more than words can say, and without you, well, there would be no Edward for this fic. I'm so happy that D.C. is everything you had hoped it would be.

To the Library of Congress: In all my research for this fic that I've looked up on you, I can honestly say that I kind of fallen in love with you. When I finally make way to D.C you are, without a doubt, the first place that I'm going to visit. I'm looking forward to it!

To you lovely readers that have added as a favorite, reviewed, and/or even added TTfG as an alert: I love you too! Your reviews are better than getting emails from the Chief!


	3. The Bounty of Mary Jane

Between you, me, and the fencepost... I didn't write Twilight. But you didn't hear that from me, if you know what I'm sayin'.

* * *

"The Bounty of Mary Jane"

Bella turned off the engine of her car and glanced over at the umbrella in the passenger seat questioningly. She glanced back at the entrance to her loft building, and then back at the umbrella. She then looked to the sky and the falling rain and decided that it wasn't heavy enough to warrant fighting with her umbrella for the twenty-five yards that it would take her to get inside. The rain had not been battering down on D.C. today like it had for the past three days anyway; she took that as a good sign for going into the weekend.

She wasn't planning on having to wrestle with her things and them falling off her shoulder halfway there but they did anyway. Bella found herself in a frightful struggle with her belongings as soon as she finally got her door unlocked and stepped inside. She was agitated enough to not care and threw them on the floor of the entryway just because she could. She gave them a swift – but weak – sideways kick for good measure to accompany the scowl on her face that her belongings rightfully deserved.

Bella walked up to her bedroom in the loft and proceeded to get rid of her work clothes for her more comfy yoga pants, t-shirt, Georgetown sweatshirt, and tube socks. She maneuvered her way back down to the kitchen and stopped to feed and bade a hello to her trusty friend, Monroe, the Beta fish.

She told him about her day at work, and what Irina had thought of her ideas that she had written down for the Book Festival. Irina had liked the ideas, and wanted to start on them the following Monday.

"Will you be able to help me come up with some more ideas over the weekend? There's still a lot to come up with before I get started; even Rosalie is coming over to help tomorrow," Bella cooed to him.

He answered with a swish of his tail, and look in her direction. It put a big smile on her face.

She then conversed with Monroe over her possible choices for dinner before finally deciding on the last of the leftover lasagna. Bella then decided that this would be the last time for a while before she made lasagna, because she was sick and tired of eating it. She loved her grandmother's recipe, to be sure, but she detested that it made enough to feed a small army, even after she had cut the amount of the recipe by half.

She heated up the last piece and grabbed a fork to dig into it. She looked at it and felt her stomach grumble with unease. She simply couldn't eat it. So, she flushed it down the disposal and made a bowl of cereal instead. Cinnamon Toast Crunch would taste so much better than leftover lasagna at this point anyway.

It was when she picked the milk up off the counter next to the refrigerator that she spotted _it_ across the kitchen. Her eyes had betrayed her again. She had put it over there to "get it out of the way so that it wouldn't get messed up," which really meant that she didn't like to linger on the feelings that were induced every time she saw it. She put the milk back in the fridge, having never taken her eyes off of it, and went to take a bite of her cereal. Then she quickly realized that she'd never replaced the fork for a spoon, and had to get a paper towel to wipe up the milk dribble on the floor.

By the time she had procured the right eating utensil and taken a bite of the cereal her feet had magically, and unbeknownst to her, found their way over to stand in front of it that was placed out of the way on the back corner of the counter. She picked it up, opened it, and read its contents:

_Hey,_

_How are you? It's been a while, huh? What all have you been up to, lately. Even before just "lately". It really has been a long time. I miss you. I want to hear from you._

_But, I didn't send this card to make you feel guilty. I'm just as guilty as you are, really. I could have gotten in touch with you sooner, but I guess I just thought that you were happy and I didn't want to intervene on that. I like that you're happy. You are happy, right? I really want you to be happy. You deserve to be. _

_Now I sound like a moron. I'm sorry. But at the same time, I know that you know what I mean and am trying to say to you. You always do. You always did. That's why you were my best friend. _

_Just so you know, that job is still yours...If you want it to be. _

_I have Rosalie here with me and it's great, but it's not the same without you here. She moved to the city after all of the stuff that happened. I'm not sure if you know about all of that or not, but it's nice to have her here. The only way to feel the void of you, though, would be if you were here. I know that you can't be, but I thought at least, maybe, we could talk again. I miss talking and laughing with you; I miss being friends with you. _

_I really just sent this card to touch base again and to say Happy Birthday. So…without further ado…_

_Happy 28__th__ Birthday! _

_I hope that it was everything you wanted it to be and more. _

_I hope that your life is everything you want it to be and more, and if it isn't I still want to hear about that too. _

_I sent this to your Mom's house because I have no idea what your address is, and I knew that she would be able to get it to you. I know that this means that this card will be too late for your birthday by the time that you get it, but I figured that you wouldn't mind. I'm enclosing my contact information so please use it. _

_I hope to talk to you soon, _

_Bella-Ella_

It had taken about half an hour to find card that she thought would be perfect, and after she did she went home and wrote out her message only to mess up and have to go back to buy more cards. Overall, it had taken Bella three trips to the store, writing her words smaller than she was used to, and four different cards in order to fit all of that on the two inner folds. She had a hard time deciding on what all to say to him. Should she make it formal, or personal? Easy going, or filled with swift words to get her point across that she missed him and wanted to talk to him again. After three different drafts she finally decided that using an easy repertoire – one that their relationship had always been accustomed to having – was best. She had finally gotten it all down and correct, and then found herself there, standing in her kitchen, holding the unsent message and card with an accompanying lump in her throat.

It had been almost three weeks since his June 20th birthday and she still had not sent the card off to Liz's house. Bella often wondered when she was alone what it was that was keeping her from sending it.

She supposed that she was scared. Not of how he would react, or of what he would say, but of how the card would find him and his current emotional state.

Is he happy? What is he doing now? Does he wish for more in his life? He always was a dreamer, so it would make sense if there were something new that he was looking forward to. Does he miss her? Like she misses him? And then the one question that she refused to acknowledge even though it was stalking, and silently begging her to be recognized… Has he moved on?

Bella hoped that he hadn't. She wanted there to still be the hope of something. Hope was now, and always had been, her constant companion every time that she thought of him. Without hope she would feel the emptiness from the void of having him gone in her life. She refused to not feel that hope, so therefore she refused to acknowledge that un-thought question.

Without that hope she would be forced to admit that there never would be a "him and her" as more than friends. She had always wanted to be more than friends, and so did he. She knew that much. She knew that he knew that much. They talked about it. They pondered over the things that they needed to do individually before "they" could become a "them."

It had been five years since she had talked to him. At that time he still very much wanted to be with her, but they both knew that they each had demands placed on them from the world and that being together would be hard. It was one of those main reasons that they had never gotten together as a couple to begin with. Everything had always been so easy between them, and they didn't want to change that. Sure they knew that every couple goes through hard times, but more often than not those hard times can push people away to where you are no longer the friends that you once were. That was not something they were willing to do. They always wanted to at least have their friendship, because it was better than not having that person in their life at all.

But now, she had lived without him for five years; nine years really, but the last five were without any communication. She knew that it would be hard to stay in contact, what with him being in the military and gallivanting all over the world on secret missions and such. But five years later found her missing him very much, and her patience wearing thin.

So she procured the card, and now all she had to do was to send it. But she was scared, and right now her fears were taking her hope on in a head-to-head battle and winning out.

Bella read over the card a few more times before placing it back in the envelope, in which it came, with a shaky hand. She turned it over, and then traced the letters of the name that she had written there with the tip of her index finger.

_Edward_.

It was then, with that same finger, that she dried the silent tears that had begun to run down her face. She missed him, and she missed her hope.

~~~TTfG~~~

I will run you  
Like a thread  
Cause my wounded eyes  
Will see again

Make peace with the sky  
It's rain may bring you hope  
But no siren will call  
Brace your love for the fall

But I will fall upon this town  
To call your name  
My sweet suffragette

Now I will call upon this town  
To hear your name  
My sweet Mary Jane  
My sweet Mary Jane

But she's weighted down  
With loss at her side  
On board a ship  
Of ghosts and lost pride

Now say hello to fate, dear  
Wreck this story told  
If you dress my wounds  
I'll feel your cold  
I'll feel your cold

Now I will fall upon this town  
To call your name  
My sweet suffragette

Now I will fall upon this town  
To hear your name  
My sweet Mary Jane

Cause I will fall upon this town  
To call your name  
My sweet suffragette  
My sweet Mary Jane  
My sweet Mary Jane

'The Bounty of Mary Jane' by Bobby Long

http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=BQKCqLLnVqk

* * *

A/N:

Many thanks to Rob for having such amazing friends. Gotta love that Brit Pack!

Also a bountiful thanks go out to Beta and Fic Mom Marvar. She loves Rob, and manages to wrestle up my errant commas amidst looking at The Pretty. I appreciate that more than she knows.

This fic would not be possible with out the lovely Ouiser. She's been my pillar of strength through this whole process so far.

To my long lost twin that has since been found, Blair: I love ya for your wittiness and your sharing spirit. Oh, and the fact that you adore the Pack as much as me helps too. "Well it's you girl and you should know it..."

To Monroe Jackson Rathbone the Fifth. Thanks for... well... everything. *winks*

To Scott: You were my Jacob when I had no light in my world at all. Well... except for that whole werewolf/baby business (bleh). Thanks for showing me that it's wonderful to shine bright like the sun again. SecretServiceward is who he is simply because of you. I adore you more than you will ever know.

To you terrific readers: All I can give you is a simple "thanks" but coming from me that word carries a lot of weight. Even if you only leave a " :) " it still means a lot.

Much love,

The Future Mrs. Tom Sturridge


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